Eat my Thoughts

​I’ve not quite sure how I feel about Cameron Bancroft and the Australian cricket team being engulfed in a cheating scandal.

I’m not in any doubt that they cheated. That seems pretty cut and dried. And I don’t disagree it’s not a good look. Neither was the stunning lack of self-awareness during the press conference after the charges were announced, where they showed little understanding of how their behaviour would be perceived.

So yes, they cheated, but I’m a little at odds with the sense of national outrage that seems to be dominating the news cycle and social media today. Maybe I’m in a minority, but I even feel a bit sorry for Bancroft and, while I am not going to defend his or Smith’s actions, I can’t quite reconcile the torrent of condemnation these young men are receiving.

Even those who were happy to see the Hodgman government returned to power at the recent election must (or at least should) have felt some sense of disquiet about the immediate announcement that they would be tripling the budget of a lobby group that had fought so vociferously to get the government re-elected.

Perhaps wisely, given how much attention it would have drawn during the election, the government waited until it was safely returned to announce millions of dollars in extra funding to the Tasmanian Hospitality Association, replenishing their coffers after an expensive election campaign. But it is still a terrible look.

After an election of big promises from both major parties (although a notable lack of policy to tackle homelessness and the shortage rental property available), The Hodgman Government was re-elected with an outright majority. Having ridden the wave of Tasmania’s economic boom, largely as a result of factors outside their control, the Liberals managed to run a disingenuous but effective campaign narrative which, compared the positive aspects of Tasmania’s current circumstances (and conveniently ignore congestion, homelessness and a long period of energy uncertainty) with the situation under their predecessor.